DAY 291 - THE SMOKY QUARTZ

Day 291

Yesterday, we celebrated my oldest daughter's birthday at my parents' house.  She is turning 10 on September 28. Whenever it's one of my kids' birthday, I probably do what many other mothers do, I tell them their birth story.  It brings me back to the two happiest days of my life.

With birthdays, though, come the headaches of trying to find a present.  My youngest daughter is always very verbal about what she wants, so it is always rather easy to please her.  As for my oldest one, she is not so much into "objects", so I always have a harder time choosing something that will make her happy.

Smoky Quartz

Luckily, though, this time around, she told me exactly what she wanted.  On Friday night, as we were having dinner, she told me: "Mom, for my birthday, I want minerals".  I thought "how about clothes, a board game, earrings, something a bit easier to find than minerals?'  Not only did she want minerals, but she wanted one in particular: a smoky quartz.

I love it when my children are specific about what they want for their birthday.  But,  in this case, I didn't know where to start looking!  Where does one buy minerals?  Not knowing where to look, I turned to a girl's best friend: the Internet.  My daughter and I sat in front of the computer  and started googgling. We found some stores that sold minerals in the United States and in France, but none in Montreal.  I could have made an online purchase, but I wanted to have the present for Sunday.

Finally, I remembered that a couple of years ago, my friend Catherine had spoken to me about a place that sold precious stones.  So, I went there and found exactly what she wanted.  On Sunday morning, my daughter went on Internet again, she showed me images of all the minerals she wanted, asking me where I thought we could find them,  not knowing I had already purchased her gift.

On Sunday evening, when my daughter unwrapped her gift, I sat still, observing her face, more excited about her opening it up than she was. As she finally removed the top of the box and saw the smoky quartz and a few other minerals, she looked at me with the most luminous and genuine smile.  She was ecstatic.  As for me, I became teary-eyed... making my children happy will always be the THING that brings me the most happiness!

If you like this post, pass it along.  To receive posts as they're being published, you can either send me an e-mail at alina500daystohappiness@hotmail.com or join the facebook group:  500daystohappiness.